The Innovation Fund


Development of a prototype national on-line vehicle identification system (NOVIS) based on metallurgical fingerprinting and digital imaging

 

MINTEK

Proposal number:

23216

Focal area:

Information Society

Total funding:

R 2,214,000

Funding year 1:

R 1,107,000

Funding year 2:

R 1,107,000

The purpose of this project is to establish a method of uniquely fingerprinting motor vehicle components for identification purposes. Owing to the methods of vehicle manufacturing, key vehicle components such as the engine block of a vehicle retain surface textures that constitute a unique 'fingerprint', which can be captured metallo-graphically. These images can be stored digitally on a database and retrieved for comparison purposes. An advantage of this scheme is that such fingerprints cannot be readily transferred to a second vehicle. The vehicle can thus, in principle, be inspected on the scene, by matching the relevant registration number with its unique ‘fingerprints’. The primary goal of the first year of the project is to design the algorithms to enable the extraction of ‘fingerprint’ information from the digital images, and the automated recognition of the patterns. In the second year a prototype hardware and software system for large-scale implementation of the concept will be developed.

Project Coordinator:

Dr M B Cortie
Phone: +27 (0)11 709 4485
Email: MikeC@mintek.co.za

 

Public reports / Newsletters: 

  • none 

 

 | Back to projects table | Top of page | 

 

Home

Introduction

Most recent call

Applications

Projects funded

Management

Collaborators

Other Funds

F A Q

Contact us

Online Services

Copyright © 2001, Innovation Fund Trust. This web site was developed by the Science & Technology web administrator.
Last updated: 29 November 2001 .   Disclaimer